1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to hooded electrical connectors and protective hoods for such connectors, and more particularly to an all plastic hood for "all plastic" connectors which become securely locked to such connectors with an audible signal or "click".
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is commonplace in the electrical connector art, and more particularly in respect of telecommunication type electrical connectors, to provide some form of protective cover or hood for the conductor termination ends of such connectors.
Typically, a telecommunication connector is mounted on a rack and panel support array or chassis through an aperture so that the mating end portion of the connector is accessible for coupling or mating with a complementary connector from the front of the panel or chassis. On the other hand, the conductor termination end portion of such a connector is made accessible from the rear of the panel or chassis to allow electrical conductors to be connected to various contacts of the connector or to allow the testing of various circuits with which the connectors are associated by selectively contacting one or more of the contacts in the connector with a test probe.
Thus, after the installation of a number of such connectors, on a panel or chassis, the contacts of the connector, as well as bared conductor portions of insulated wires to which they are terminated, are vulnerable to potentially hazardous unwanted shortcircuiting so grounding by stray pieces of solder, metal or other conductive materials inadvertently falling upon and between the contacts or conductors. Additionally, during the maintenance of such equipment, the conductive portions of tools or other objects may inadvertently produce such shortcircuiting or grounding.
Accordingly, protective hoods, preferably of plastic or other nonconductive material, have been used to snap-on or slide on and over the termination end portion of such connectors after the contacts thereof have been terminated with conductors to prevent the aforesaid unwanted, inadvertent bridging, shorting or grounding. Typical examples of such prior art hoods and associated connectors, and particularly where the connector body, or hood, or both are fabricated of plastic, or other nonconductive material, are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,657,682; 3,803,530; 3,936,129; 4,035,051; 4,070,548; 4,089,579; 4,090,770 and 4,203,643.
While such prior art hoods, when employed with their associated connectors, have met with some success in the marketplace, they suffer from a number of disadvantages. Most significantly, the manner in which many of the prior art protective hoods are assembled and disassembled from their respective connector bodies requires the use of screws or other fastening devices in order to ensure that the hoods are not easily inadvertently dislodged from their respective connector. On the other hand, a number of hood and connector configurations have been constructed where the hood is "self-latching" or "self-locking" such that when the hood is assembled to the connector, complementary bosses and detents on or in the hood and a separate part mounted on an end flange of the connector engage to secure the hood to the connector. Typically, such bosses extend outwardly from the side surfaces of a cable clamp member affixed to the connector to engage complementary apertures or recesses in the hood. Apart from the relatively high cost of such prior art arrangements, considerable manual force, manual dexterity or the use of special tools is required in the removal of such hoods. Additionally, in completing the assembly of such prior art hoods upon respective connectors, there is insignificant, if any, audible signal that a lock between the hood and the connector has, in fact, been secured. Should a lock not be secured, the hood may easily become dislodged from the connector thereby exposing the contacts of the connector to the aforementioned hazards.